Running water

Rory with one foot in the stream

 The new barn has a stream running across the property.  It's not a real stream, but rather a drainage stream for the lake in the neighbour's field.  The BOs did a lot of work this summer to prepare for the wet seasons and there is now a neat swale running across the property out to the ditch by the road.  All but one paddock has a culvert to allow dry passage to the paddock gates, the other has a gravel base.  When I saw the water rushing along on Thursday I thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce Rory to walking through moving water.  He was very good about it and followed me across easily.  At first he tried to step clear across without getting into the water, but after a few trips back and forth he didn't worry about plopping a foot in.  We went and took a look at the neighbour's lake but didn't go wading as I didn't have suitable footwear.

The next day it snowed and the water was a black strip against the white.  I took Rory out to see that it was the same deal, and this time persuaded him to stop with his front feet in the water.  He was completely unconcerned about the water even against the snow.  Good boy!

Big boy on the cross ties.

We had a bit of longeing practice in the arena on Friday as well.  Totyo hollered for Rory while we were gone, but Rory didn't get upset about being away from his buddy.  Rory's getting pretty good about going around to the left so we did a bit of work to the right as well.  He was a little iffy about "Out" when we started, but improved with a little practice.  I asked him to go for longer without a carrot today, probably too long a couple of times.  I broke up the longeing practice with some leading and yielding, and a bit of trot in hand round the arena.  He was very good and stayed with me even when it was plain he would have liked to kick up his heels.

I borrowed the barn's measuring stick to see how tall Rory has gotten.  He's 15.1 1/2 right now.  I let him sniff the stick before measuring and he didn't mind it at all.

The new rainsheet is rubbing Rory's shoulders a bit - just roughing up the hair for now.  I had thought that might happen since the chest buckles are lower than they should be on him.  I had my needle and thread handy so I sewed a couple of darts into the neckline to raise the front.  Hopefully it will be enough.  It's tough to find blankets for the young horses.  They're neither pony nor horse proportions, and they're still growing. 

March 9, 2009 - Puddle jumping

I took Rory for a walk Sunday afternoon. The driveway had a couple of huge puddles on it and I couldn't resist the opportunity to teach Rory to walk through water. Things started off very well and we walked into the first puddle carefully, but ok. The next puddle had sediment stirred up and was cloudy - he didn't want to come into that one. I persisted and he eventually wiggled about enough that he ended up in it when I backed him up (after he'd crowded up behind me as he avoided stepping into the puddle). The third puddle was easy too.

We went up the driveway and trotted back down - nice trot!! which caught the attention of the horses in the front field. One came over and galloped away and brought another one back with her. So the lesson of the day turned into a polite walk back up the driveway practice. At the top we went and saw the tractor up close. Rory was getting a bit fidgety and trying to go back to the paddock where TOW was whinnying. He managed to get the jump on me and hit a canter before I could get far enough out to the side to get the leverage to stop him and I had to let go of the lead rope! ACK!

All he did was run back to the gate where TOW was and stood there (it's at the end of a little alley between fields so nowhere to go except back towards me) until I got to him. After a little scritch and calm down minute we went out for a little more walking so he wouldn't learn he could escape whenever he wanted. He did try several times, but I was waiting specifically for him to try it and stopped him every time. Then we went back to the field and I put him back with TOW. I do think that if TOW didn't make such a big deal about Rory leaving, Rory wouldn't be at all concerned. He is very good for the first few minutes. Maybe I just need to keep it shorter - or get out of earshot.

He's got ugly baby warts on his nose. Do white nosed horses tend to get them worse? More easily? I did slather a couple with vaseline when I had it out later to do Rory's eyelids - someone in health care said they'd done that. We'll see if it works for Rory.